I dont have enough vacume for my pwr brakes to work properly and don't know if i want to spend $600 on hydroboost. How would just running manual brakes with my discs? Would that be better then running pwr brakes without enough vacume?

thanks,

It might be. Depends on what wheel brakes you have. Also depends on if you are used to driving cars with power brakes. I have driven many vehicles with manual front disc, and a few with manual 4 wl disc. They're harder to push the pedal than power, but much better than power with a bad booster or no vacuum.

What's involved going from power to manual? I have a 71 Cutlass with drum/disk and 4" of vacuum. Needless to say......

i put manual disc on my wife's '67 Firebird, and offered to put a booster on - she is happy with it the way it is with manual.

i'm in the process of going 4 wheel disc with manual master on my A-body right now.

for a manual disc/drum master, get it for a '70 chevelle with manual disc brakes.

for a 4 wheel disc manual master, get it for a '68 - '76 Corvette with manual brakes...thay all have 4 wheel disc.

I have manual front discs/rear drums on my 64, they work fine, for 40-year old car. Nothing like power disc brakes on todays cars, but you get used to the pedal feel and stopping distances. If money were no object and you really wanted to improve handling and braking, power discs would be the way go. But I've found manual front discs work fine for cruising and don't have the brake fade you would with 4 wheel drums. That said, I plan to go with 4 wheel power discs when I finish my 65. Depends on your expectations.

After getting tired of the fading and no brakes after a puddle with 4 wheel manual drum I converted to front disc, still manual. The difference made it well worth the expense, and it stops fine without the booster. Yeh, you may have a little fatigue after being in a traffic jam for 1/2 hour but that's not enough motivation for me to add the booster.

My right calf has grown a little bigger than the left. :)

My right calf has grown a little bigger than the left. :)

You probably need to convert your car to manual transmission with a stiff clutch. It will make you more symmetrical.

Lol, I have a Muncie, so maybe it's just an optical illusion. True story, we played a prank on a guy back in college, he was a weightlifter, liked to stare at himself in the mirror and brag about how good he looked, so we all started telling him his left calf looked bigger than his right. Made him so paranoid he stopped working out his left leg and just worked out his right leg to make them more symmetrical. I wonder today, if he is still paranoid or if he actually made his right leg grow bigger from that.

if want to keep your current setup you could get a vac. pump, either electric or belt driven to make up for your lost vac. That way you will have the vac you need for your booster and for Cruise Control if you were to add it.

I think i would get the hydro boost before the vac pump. I was doing some searching here and it looks like i might go with a smaller bore m/c. I think i might get some feel back. The rock hard pedel is what i don't like or other wise it stops good. I'm just worried about when my wife drives it. Thanks guys for the replies.

It's a bit of work. I used a 69 corvette manual disc brake master cyclinder
They sell that M/C new in most auto parts. Then remove your old M/C and vaccum booster and rod to brake pedal. Then you bolt up Corvette master cyclinder to firewall get a new rod to brake pedal There is a place that advisterse in all the Car magazines cant think of the name sell the master cyclinder and rod to brake pedal as a kit. Then change postion on brake pedal to manual brake. I had 70 I did this on i got rid of the porp valve and
dist block power booster I put in in a tee for the front off m/c and rear popr
valve from wildwood to rear. had to reroute brake lines some. Dosent stop on the dime but stops well for me.